Space is Spicier: Peppers Growing on Station

On July 12, NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough on the International Space Station added water to NASA’s Plant Habitat-04 (PH-04) experiment in the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH), the largest of NASA’s three plant growth chambers on the orbiting laboratory. This activated the experiment, which contains 48 Hatch chili pepper seeds recently sent to station. Astronauts on station and a team of researchers at Kennedy will work together to monitor the peppers’ growth for about four months before harvesting them. This will be one of the longest and most challenging plant experiments attempted aboard the orbital lab. The crew plans to eat some of the peppers and send the rest back to Earth for analysis. Some of the data collected from PH-04 will include the astronauts’ take on flavor and texture of the peppers, along with Scoville measurements to assess the spiciness of the peppers. A research team monitoring a control experiment on the ground at Kennedy will collect similar information for comparison. SpaceX’s 22nd commercial resupply services mission in June delivered PH-04 to the space station. Read the full feature and the fact sheet about the PH-04 experiment. Follow progress on social medi